Vietnam Starts Criminal Proceedings Against Gia, Lao Dong Says

By Bloomberg News -
Sep 27, 2012

Vietnam has started criminal
proceedings against Tran Xuan Gia, former chairman of Asia
Commercial Bank, and three other officials for alleged economic
mismanagement, Lao Dong newspaper reported on its website today.

Gia and the three former vice-chairmen of the bank, Le Vu
Ky, Trinh Kim Quang and Pham Trung Cang, allegedly violated
state regulations on economic management, the newspaper said
quoting a police investigation unit. The former bank executives
are cooperating with the investigation and have been ordered to
stay at their residences, according to the report said.

The four individuals were allegedly involved in authorizing
ACB employees to deposit funds at 29 different banks to enjoy
higher deposit rates than the cap imposed by the central bank,
the report said.

ACB, Vietnam’s biggest bank that isn’t owned by the
government, said Gia and two deputies approved the deposit of
718 billion dong ($34 million) of the company’s funds at another
bank. The board accepted their resignations on Sept. 18, the
bank said in a statement Sept 19.

There was no response to calls by Bloomberg News to Gia’s
mobile phone. Quang declined to comment when reached on his
phone. Cang and Ky could not immediately be contacted for
comments. Nguyen Tien Luc, deputy head of the Police Bureau for
Crime Prevention, did not answer calls to his mobile phone.
Nguyen Thanh Toai, deputy chief executive of ACB, said he had no
comment because the executives concerned have left the bank.